Medicaid-Law

Medicaid Law

Faced with a need for home care or for nursing home care, many New Yorkers incorrectly assume that they have no option except to “spend down” their life’s savings and their income before they are entitled to Medicaid benefits.

Fortunately, with proper planning, you can qualify for valuable benefits and hold onto all or at least a substantial portion of your assets, life’s savings and income. If you need Home Care or Nursing Home Care and wish to apply for Medicaid Benefits, with proper legal advice, you will not be forced to spend down your income and your assets until you have practically nothing left. Obtain legal advice from a New York Elder Law attorney at Rubinstein, Zeh and Associates to understand your options, and ask for a comprehensive Medicaid plan for you, to conserve your income and your savings. Our attorneys are not only trained in handling simple estate matters, we take care of complex medicaid planning and estate litigation in the event of the need for Medicaid Planning in Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens County, Bronx, Westchester, Richmond County, Manhattan and Brooklyn Kings County New York.

What is Medicaid?

Medicaid is a joint federal, state and local program that provides a broad range of medical and health benefits, in home care and chronic care including long-term care for those who are permanently or chronically ill, injured or disabled. Medicaid should not be confused with Medicare, which is a Federal medical insurance program that covers acute medical problems and rehabilitation.

Who is eligible for Medicaid?

Medicaid applicants and recipients must satisfy strict eligibility requirements. Generally, individuals who are eligible for Medicaid have only a minimal amount of resources or income. Spousal income, assets and property are subject to the eligibility requirements for married couples.

Is it possible to protect your assets and income, and still be eligible for Medicaid benefits?

YES! With proper legal advice and comprehensive Medicaid Planning from a qualified Elder Law attorney, you or your family member or friend may be able to conserve your life’s savings and your income, and your home, for yourself and your Estate.
Without proper advice and planning, under the Medicaid eligibility guidelines, you or your family member or friend will not qualify for Medicaid home care benefits in New York unless:

You deplete or spend down all but $14,550 of your life savings!

You reduce the equity in your home or apartment to an amount under $814,000!

You contribute all of your monthly income, except $829, to your Medicaid provider!

Married couples are allowed $1,212 in income and resources of $21,450!

Eligibility requirements for Medicaid nursing home care are even more strict!

New York seniors, as well as the disabled of any age, and their families and friends, are rightly concerned about the medical and financial issues that accompany aging or disability. Absent comprehensive Medicaid planning, the current guidelines leave the elderly or disabled with very little money or property to pay for luxuries or necessities, or to make any provisions for their heirs. This is why it is so important to put together a proper medicaid plan with an elder law attorney. Let the attorneys at the law offices of Rubinstein, Zeh and Associates show you how to protect your assets from medicaid.

Preserving Your Life’s Savings

Because of the eligibility guidelines, and the complexity of public benefit programs, legal advice from a qualified Elder Law lawyer is a necessity if you and your family are concerned about preserving your life’s savings or conserving your income for yourself or your Estate. The New York Medicaid Planning attorneys at Rubinstein, Zeh and Associates can assist you with comprehensive in home Medicaid Planning and Chronic Care Nursing Home Medicaid Planning, all done with strict adherence to Federal, New York State and local laws.

Compassionate and Understanding

Each Medicaid Planning attorney at Rubinstein, Zeh and Associates is compassionate and understanding of you and your family’s needs. Our attorneys will explore all of the available options that may include a pooled income trust, special needs trust, supplemental needs trust, comprehensive gifting, loans, purchases of Medicaid qualified annuities, fixed annuities, promissory notes, caregiver agreements, funeral expenses, purchase and/or sale of life estates or remainder interests in a residence, return of gifts, establishment of trusts and other steps to allow you to qualify for Medicaid Assistance, combined with other strategies.

Each lawyer at Castiglia-Rubinstein & Associates will, to the fullest extent possible within the applicable requirements of Federal and New York law, try to satisfy your objectives and goals, and assist you with a comprehensive Medicaid strategy that is tailored to you and your family’s needs and unique situation.
The New York Medicaid Planning lawyers at Castiglia-Rubinstein & Associates can advise you whether you are elderly, a senior citizen, or a permanently disabled person living in Suffolk County, Nassau County, Manhattan, Brooklyn Kings County, Queens, the Bronx, Richmond County Staten Island or Westchester. Call today to schedule an appointment to discuss your Medicare Planning, Estate Planning, and Elder Care needs. 631-465-0444.
Medicaid is a public benefit program that is designed to meet people’s needs for care in circumstances of chronic illness or where long-term custodial care is required, either at home or in a nursing home.
Medicaid is available to qualified applicants for home care, or nursing home care, BUT there are STRICT eligibility guidelines in place for Medicaid applicants and recipients. See the chart below for the 2015 eligibility guidelines.

2015 Nursing Home Medicaid Eligibility Guidelines

A married or non-married person residing in a nursing home is permitted to have $50 per month as a personal needs allowance.

A Medicaid applicant or recipient is allowed to retain $14,550 in assets (not counting the home and certain other exempt assets). New York City residents may also maintain a $1,500 burial account (in addition to a pre-paid funeral).

The community spouse of someone in a nursing home is entitled to retain up to $2,931 of the couple’s monthly income without being required to make a contribution towards the cost of the nursing home.

Where one spouse is in a nursing home, the community spouse has a maximum resource allowance of one-half of the couple’s assets up to $117,240. The minimum allowance is $74,820, or the couple’s total assets, whichever is less.

A home, condo, or coop apartment is exempt for eligibility purposes for long term stay Nursing Home Medicaid, if the Medicaid applicant’s equity in the residence is less than $814,000. However, it is subject to a Medicaid lien for the amount of the benefits provided, and the lien will be satisfied when the home is no longer the permanent residence of the Medicaid recipient or his or her spouse. For in home Medicaid a home can’t be owned by the applicant.

Medicaid Planning Services

What you should do?
We believe the best solution is to bring together the family members, legal documents and financial information and analyze it in light of current Medicaid laws. Our Medicaid planning attorneys will then build a financial plan to maximize asset preservation in coordination with a long term care plan.
We are dedicated to your success — so contact us. Speak with one of our knowledgeable Long Island estate planning litigation attorneys, Medicaid planning attorneys today from wherever you are in New York in Nassau and Suffolk, Brooklyn, Kings and Queens Counties, on Long Island and all New York City boroughs including Bronx, Westchester, Richmond County, and Manhattan. Call 631-465-0444 today.

Get Help With Your Medicaid Estate Plan Now

You should be prepared if a loved is in need of in home care, going into a nursing home or already resides in a nursing home. You should know you have certain legal rights and must be very selective of the Lawyer or Law Firm that you chose to represent you.

About the Website of Law Firm of RUBINSTEIN, Zeh and Associates and the legal information on the screen above: We hope you find this information useful and informative, but it is not the same as legal counsel. A free website is ultimately worth everything it costs you; you rely on it at your own risk. This website and any other website on this legal topic does not substitute real legal advice, face to face with an attorney. Good legal advice includes a review of all of the facts of your situation, including many that may at first glance seem to you not to matter. The plan it generates is sensitive to your goals and wishes while taking into account a whole panoply of laws, rules and practices, many not published online. Speak with an attorney today to help resolve any legal issues that you and your family may be facing.

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Christine Rubinstein has been my attorney for several years handling various legal issues as well as my family trust. I have found that Christine's years of experience enable her to provide thoughtful, thorough and most importantly, practical legal advice. She listens carefully to any/all my questions/concerns and is responsive and thorough. Her level of professionalism and sincerity is second to none! I highly recommend them!

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To whom it may concern,

My name is Dave Fischer, Executive Board member with ARPO, Association of Retired Police Officers based in Mineola, NY. Recently, Christine Thea Rubinstein, of Rubinstein, Zeh & Associates, were guest speakers at our general meeting held at the Nassau County Police Department PBA office .

Their presentation on Elder Law & Estate Planning was very efficient, knowledgeable, and extremely informative, relating to investing your retirement, protecting your retirement money, and various forms of legal estate planning issues and estate protection techniques that they are capable of handling should it be necessary.

We thank, Christine Thea Rubinstein for her expertise and insightful presentation.

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